Max Farraday's eyes shot open as he heard screaming. Immediatly grabbing his swords, he ran to one of the nearby tents, opened it up, reached out for the sleeping bad, and placed a hand on Hope's shoulder.
"Shhh. It's alright Hope. It's just another nightmare. You're here with us." Here because of the childs of the Olympians, thought the son of Erebus bitterly. "M-max... D-do you reall think it's a g-good idea?" asked Hope Mathis, the daughter of Nyx, with uncertainity. "We don't have any choice, Hope. If we want to punish the Olympians and their childs, then we have to seek his help."
Without another word, the gothic headed back to his tent and took the old map from his backpack. It had been mounths since they were kicked out of camp by the other campers, mostly the childs of the Olympians. He soon banded up with other childs of the Dark Gods; Hope Mathis, daughter of Nyx; Ethan Heart, son of Thanatos; Marcus Feek, one of the very few childs of Ares who stood up for the sons and daughters of the Dark Gods; Alex Ward, a son of Nemesis; and finally, Sylvia Trask, a daughter of Hades.
The plan had first been judged madness by the others, but they soon accepted it. They all wanted a revenge on the campers who kicked them out, condemning them to wander around, hunted by monsters. They wanted to crush the Olympians and their childs, to show them that their disdain for the minor gods and the dark gods was a terrible mistake.
But to accomplish this, they needed to organize themselves. Rally the other outcasts, rejected demigods. And in order to do that, they followed the history of a secretive organisation of demigods: the Dark Circle. This strange, secretive group had been founded by the first demigod son of Thanatos, who wanted to rally the other childs of the dark gods. Throughout the ages, the members of the group fought alongside various factions in wars, but always in secret: for example, they helped the Hunters of Artemis during the Titan War by slaying the reinforcements sent on one of the Hunter's fortress. They care deeply about honor, but are not blinded by it. They are harsh on their new recruits, but always stand up for the members of the Dark Circle, considering themselves as a big family.
And now, here was Max's small group. Near the Dark Circle's stronghold, miles from Anchorage in Alaska, but unable to know where it was.
The emo instantly unsheated his two swords again as he heard a faint crumbling noise. Leaving his tent, he slowly advanced toward the source of the noise. The others were still asleep, despite Trask having a sharp ear. They were too tired to wake up; it had been two weeks they marched and marched almost without stopping to the supposed stronghold location.
Max's eyes widened as he saw that part of the snow melted away, to reveal a passageway; stone stairs going down farther than he could see. The gothic went to Marcus' tent, got inside, and woke up his friend. "Sorry to wake you up like that buddy, but I found something. Wake up the others and pack everything up." The son of Ares groaned, stretched his arms, and then got out of his sleeping bag and started packing his things up. Trusting Feek would do his job, Farraday left the tent and headed toward the stairs. Inhaling deeply, he descended into the unknown, his natural enhanced nightvision allowing him to see that the stairs continued for a long way.
"Erebus, dad, if you hear me, don't let me die down there", said the emo quietly.
